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Wiedmer: SEC now must deal with cynical committee

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By Mark Wiedmer 5 min read

photo SEC Southeastern Conference

ATLANTA – Fourteen points.

If by some grave miscarriage of justice the Tennessee Volunteers are left out of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament by a Selection Committee who’s apparently allergic to Southeastern Conference basketball, that’s the stat that may do them in.

When you score just 14 points in the second half of a conference semifinal game, as UT did in losing 56-49 to Florida on Saturday, you leave those who doubt you an out to leave you out.

Doesn’t mean the Vols won’t make the field this evening. Doesn’t mean they shouldn’t make the field, especially given some of the officials’ whistles that went against them in the final minutes against the Gators.

But it also means that Cuonzo Martin’s third Big Orange squad best hope that ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi’s assessment that Tennessee is no worse than an 11th seed is correct.